Soumya, Jigisha murder cases far from over: Police

New Delhi, March 25 (IANS) Delhi Police Wednesday said investigations into the sensational murders of TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan and IT executive Jigisha Ghosh were far from over, as more evidences were required for a “more focussed” probe. The police Tuesday said they arrested four men for murdering the young working women whose killings - one six months ago and one last week - rocked the capital.

“We have questioned the accused for a short period. We want to question them for more focused investigations,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (south Delhi) H.G.S. Dhaliwal told reporters here.

“Their detailed questioning is required to throw more light on the cases. And we would be seeking their custody for 14 days each in both the cases. So far we have a chain of sequences in both the murders and admission of the accused. Their movements on both nights (of murders) are also fully established,” he said.

Dhaliwal said more facts would be established after forensic reports of murder weapons seized from the accused. “We are sending the pistol and the bullet shell to the forensic lab on a priority basis. And a lot depends on the report.”

“We are leaving no stone unturned that the accused get maximum punishment in both the cases.”

Delhi Police arrested four men - Ravi Kapoor, of Madangir in south Delhi who was the head of the gang, Baljeet Malik, of Masoodpur, Amit Kumar Shukla of Lado Sarai, and Ajay Kumar from Munirka for the murders of Soumya, 25, and Jigisha, 28. The fifth accused is absconding.

Kapoor, Malik and Shukla were presented before a city court which sent them to judicial custody till April 28. Kumar was produced before the court Wednesday and was also sent to jail till March 31. The court has asked the police to have their Test Identification Parade (TIP) March 27.

Jigisha, a resident of Vasant Vihar in south Delhi, had left her home for office in Noida Tuesday but did not return home, though her office cab had dropped her outside her apartment block where she lived. Her body was discovered by Faridabad police three kilometer from Surajkund, about 20 km from her residence, Friday night.

Soumya was found dead in her car in Vasant Kunj area of south Delhi around 3.30 a.m. Sep 30 when she was returning from work to her home in Sector-C of Vasant Kunj.

Dhaliwal said the WagonR car used in Soumya’s murder could not be recovered yet.

He said they have found Kapoor’s involvement in at least three other cases as well, including one in a case of impersonation. “A blood soaked dagger has also been recovered from him suggesting that he might have murdered some one else.”

“But all this will be known only after his sustained interrogation. So far his role has come only in two murder cases and 12 cases of auto-lifting.”

Dhaliwal said after killing Jigisha they threw one of her mobile phones in a moving truck and another on the road to destroy it under the wheels of a moving vehicle.

The police official denied media reports that Jigisha’s parents first retrieved the CCTV footage of the accused from a shop in Sarojini Nagar market where the accused had shopped on her credit card.

“Her parents were in a state of shock for at least four days. Since they have no close relatives here, our personnel were looking after them. They were not only consoling them, but cooked for them and extended their support to them.”

“They (parents) might have gone to the shop, but our men collected the CCTV footage.”